. thank you for joining us. i'm jc hayward.

happy -- happy valentine's day. police have charged oscar pistorius with the murder of his girlfriend. >> reporter: olympic track star oscar pistorius looked down as he left the police station in south africa charged with murder. >> a young woman did die on the scene of gunshot wounds. >> reporter: that woman was a model and the girlfriend of police tore ya's -- pistorius's. she was shot four times inside the athlete's home where they found a 9 millimeter pistol. the sprinter known as the blades run forehis high-tech artificial legs is a national hero in south africa. he lives in a gated community in the capital. pistorius made history at the olympic stadium in london last summer. he became the first double amputee runner to ever compete in the games. pistorius had been with his girlfriend for several months and would have celebrated their first valentine's day together. the day before she died, there

were reports she made a surprise pistorius and he thought she was an untrieder but police believe it was domestic trouble and some witnesses heard screaming. >> there had proafl been incidents -- previously been incidents at the home. >> reporter: his lawyer would not say much about how pistorius is feeling. >> he's obviously emotional but he's fine. >> reporter: police say forensic investigators will test pistorius for blood alcohol levels and check for possible evidence under his fingernails. cbs news, london. >> pistorius will face a court hearing on friday. in an interview with "the new york times" last year, the athlete talked about pulling out his pistol to search his home one night when his security alarm went off. soon we could learn the identity of the body pulled from a california cabin where

authorities believe they cornered a rogue cop. a wallet containing christopher dorner's driver's license was found in the burned out cabin. authorities say that a tear gas canister shot into the cabin actually started that fire. officials say they were trying to drive out the suspect alive. dorner was wanted for a string of revenge killings tied to his firing from the los angeles police department. the man convicted in chandra levy's murder is expected back in the d.c. courtroom this afternoon. ingmar guandique was brought back to the district last week from a federal prison in alabama. in 2010, he was found guilty of killing the government intern. levy disappeared in may 2001. her remains were found one year late near rock creek park. cbs news has reported that there are new questions about a prosecution witness in that case. however, so far the jug has re-

- the judge has refused to open the hearings to the media. police are investigating a suspicious death of an elderly man found inside his northern virginia home. 94-year-old elmer rowans was found in the 2700 block of holly street in alexandria yesterday evening. investigators are not identifying him by name. they say that he was dead when they arrived on the scene. according to police, a family member who came to the house called for help. authorities will only say that they are classifying this as a suspicious death. >> we're considering all possibilities. we don't have any suspect in custody at this point but we're interviewing all of the family members and other potential witnesses and we would ask if anyone saw or heard anything in the area, that they would contact us and let us know. >> an autopsy is being performed to determine how the man died.

the seven-month-old girl who died while in the care of her teenage brother is going to be laid to rest today. her mother went to work last thursday night and when she returned home, the following morning, she found the baby unconscious. the 14-year-old boy told investigators that he hit the little girl. then he put his hand over her mouth and nose until she stopped crying and breathing. he has been charged as an adult. the university of maryland is still reeling after a student shot and killed his roommate and then wounded another before turning the gun on himself. the family of the shooter, dayvon green told police that he suffered from a mental illness, but did his roommates know about this? kristin fisher spoke to the stepfather of 22-year-old neil oha who survived the shooting. >> he had always been a little bit different, had ups and

downs, highs and lows. >> neil is out of the hospital and is recovering from his home in frederick. he is expected to make a full recovery. if you're traveling through virginia, shoe be on the look for road crews. virginia megaprojects says it will begin its mobile stripping operation along i-95, hov lanes between the prince william parkway and the springfield interchange. the project started at 10:00 this morning. it is expected to last through most of the day. passengers on that broken down cruise ship are counting the hours until they're back on land. we're going to take a live look at the towing operation to bring that ship with 4,000 passengers back to mobile, alabama. they're expected to reach land sometime tonight. randall pinkston is at the port waiting for that ship to come in. >> reporter: the gangway is in plies. the term -- place. the terminal has been scrubbed

clean for the arrival of the ship. it's expected to be towed in this evening. 3,000 passengers, 1,000 crew are on board. many of their families waiting anxiously in mobile. >> we came to get our girls. >> reporter: mary and kim drove eight hours from texas to pick up their daughters who are on the ship with their dads. they say the girls have been crying. >> mommy, i'm so scared. mommy, i don't know what to do. >> reporter: had they been on cruises before? >> this is her sixth one. she knew. never had any problems. >> reporter: a fire knocked out the ship's power on sunday. since then passengers say life on board has been miserable and disgusting. there's been limited access to food and bathrooms. toylets have been replaced by plastic bags. her daughter and ex-husband have been eating onion sandwiches. >> she was crying. it's so hot. >> reporter: the ship isn't expected to reach the port of mobile till after night fall.

carnival plans to bus the passengers to new orleans or galveston. carnival is paying for transportation and hotel rooms for the passengers. they're also giving out full refunds for the cruise, a credit toward a future cruise and $500 cash. randall pinkston, cbs news, mobile, alabama. >> triumph's next 12 cruises have been canceled while the ship undergoes repairs and a major cleanup. well, they say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. coming up, find out why chocolate may be the key to jump starting a romantic evening. >> reporter: i'm danielle nottingham at the vatican. coming up, pope benedict is stepping down, but will he remain

pope benedict says he plans to drop out of public view when he steps down at the end of the month. danielle nottingham has more on the pope's return to private life. >> reporter: the vatican acknowledged for the first time that pope benedict hit his head in a hotel room during his trip to mexico last year. church officials say the accident has nothing to do with the pontiff's decision to retire. the pope told parish priests in rome thursday morning he will be hidden from view after he steps down. the holy father says he will live a life of prayer in a former monastery inside the vatican walls. it has been 600 years since the last pope retired. >> a lot of people are wondering is he just going to go behind the vatican walls and never be seen or heard from again. even the pope's brother had suggested that the new pope would be wise to consult the former pope from time to time. >> reporter: even though pope benedict is expected to be out of sight, images of him will be around the vatican for many

years to come. tourists who make the pilgrimage here by all sort -- buy all sorts of religious souvenirs. many items still feature pope john paul ii. they expect a big demand of memorabilia of the new pope once he's announced. the election is also expected to bring an economic boom to rome. >> social services, all our security. >> reporter: four million pilgrims came for the last conclave in 2005. the city of rome is getting ready for the same number this time. danielle nottingham, cbs news, the vatican. howard has the valentine's day forecast next. >> jc, started out to be a sweet afternoon across the region after a messy morning. we'll take you to break with a look at these temperatures which are comfortable. winds not too bad. low to mid-40s. headed to the 50-degree mark in a few spots. i have more on a wintry possibility coming our way and

a petline thursday. lab rescue is in

do you have your valentine's day gifts order or will you be getting them later? chocolate may be considered the old standby. that's not necessarily a bad thing. one compound in chocolate is called the molecule of love. and it can act as an aphrodisiac and enhance the mood. anita brikman tells us chocolate also contains

antioxidants. >> reporter: artfully chocolate in alexandria is full of unique treats and romantic gifts that make someone feel special. that's where i met up with registered dietician betsy ramirez who says the science is there to prove chocolate has substantial health benefits. >> there's a compound in chocolate called flavonol which is like body armor for your cells. it helps protect against disease. >> reporter: it has the greatest benefit on lowering blood pressure and increasing levels of good cholesterol. >> the studies earlier in sweden, they were using milk chocolate and saw significant reductions in stroke risk. >> reporter: so what's the best chocolate choice? ramirez says inside the roapsed bean -- roasted bean is the nib, basically raw chocolate. >> these are chocolate covered and will have the highest flavonol content because it's less processed. >> reporter: ramirez also likes chocolate bars adorned with

berries and other healthy, exotic ingredients but you don't need a lot. in fact, too much counteracts the benefits good this is semisweet. this is a good example of what an ounce would be. >> reporter: one of those. >> one of those. cue pop about three of those and that would equal a tablespoon of cocoa which is a good recommendation of chocolate. >> reporter: we're talking small amounts but often. >> every day even. >> reporter: that doesn't sound bad. >> by the way, anita posted more ideas from betsy on incorporating natural cocoa into the diet. it's on the health page of our website wusa9.com. >> that's a diet i can get into. chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. happy valentine's day. >> happy valentine's day. eight nice out now but what a mess it was this morning. beautiful snow where it fell. then we cleerld out. temperatures dropped -- cleared out and temperatures dropped. but a beautiful afternoon.

here's a look at your day planner. get ready for sunshine the rest of the day. a nice start to the evening as well. as temperatures are going to climb up to about 50, 51. the winds are nice, light with south, southwesterly 5, 8 miles an hour. no problems there. tonight we'll be clear this evening so temperatures will drop off into the lower 40s by 9:00 with a south, southeast wind right about 7 miles an hour. so we have the rain, the snow. an inch, inch and a half in spots northwest pulling through new york overnight and quickly out to sea. look at all the sunshine we're looking at now so it's turned out to be a very fine midday. but with the clearing overnight, temperatures got just a little bit too low. i mean, 30, 32, 27. this was enough to cause lots of black ice to form. a flash freeze where the wet roads went to ice like that. 4:00, 4:30, 5:30. dozens of accidents this morning. it's great outside. 39 in hagerstown and westminster. easton 33 along with la plata.

46 in culpeper. 43 winchester. look outside. 45 cumberland. outside now, look at all the sunshine. it's a beautiful afternoon in d.c. with 45. a northwest wind at 6 making it feel more like 42 and the humidity only 48%. today is not going to abproblem but we've got -- to be a problem but we've got to watch the northern branch of the jet stream. little disturbances coming here. some of these are kind of potent like this coming through wisconsin, michigan, bringing snow there. that will pass to our north. to the south the southern branch has been active bringing all this rain to florida and extreme southern georgia but it's going to be the northern stream that's going to affect us. not so much today or tonight but later tomorrow, tomorrow night into saturday. that's when we've got some concerns. first disturbance passes to our north late today. no issues there. then we're going to watch tomorrow morning into the midday. no real problems. another mild day ahead of the next front. late in the afternoon, blue ridge west. we have a chance for a shower. look at the snow in the mountains as it spreads to the

east by friday night. frederick north and west there, shenandoah valley, snow overnight friday night before midnight. then it will overspread areas in north central maryland overnight into saturday morning with some snow showers and even east of us could be a stripe of snow saturday midday pulling away. this could drop an inch, inch and a half, maybe two inches isolated, especially north of town and northeast of town as we head into the friday night, saturday morning period as colder air returns. enjoy the warm pt the next couple of -- warmth the next couple of days. pleasant day, 51. 36 tonight. fairly light southwest winds. low 30s outside the beltway. mid-50s tomorrow. could be a late shower but a better chance of snow showers tomorrow night as we dip into the low to mid-30s. some morning snow showers saturday. we really don't see much recovery, 39. by sunday, that's the cold day. only 32 on sunday with more flurries. warming back up into the 40s on monday and then on president's day. more rain on tuesday. maybe a touch of snow as colder

air returns once again. it's petline thursday. joining me sherry hamilton from lab rescue. you have a sweet, sweet black lab here. hello. who's this? >> this is reba. she is an absolute sweetheart actually. she's only about a year and a half old. she does have a few extra challenges. she was a stray to the shelter. because of her challenges she wasn't going to get out of there. >> she needs somebody real special because she has a muscular issue. what does that mean for somebody maybe thinking about adopting her? >> we have her on medication. she's doing really good trying to strengthen her muscles. she wasn't getting the exercise and stuff that she had needed previously but she's been in foster care now. >> you seeing some improvement. >> oh, my gosh. she loves to run and play with other dogs. the foster has a cat that she completely loves and has kids, too. she's good with the kids. >> do we think she'll grow out

of the issue? >> i don't think she'll ever grow out of it but we can learn to manage it and her muscles are continuing to develop and get stronger every day. she's well on her way. she's just as sweet as they come. >> we'll have to -- how can folks contact your lab rescue and get her a real home? >> it's lab-rescue.org. our next event is in burkes, virginia. >> go to our website wusa9.com. go to the petline section. reba, you're a sweet girl. we've got to get you a permanent home. we'll be

i want you to meet my newest friend from vermont with cabot cheeses. when it comes to the three cs,

he says cows, cheddar and calcium. when i go to parties, i have to be careful about the cheese part. i love cheese. >> you've been eating all my cheese up already. >> it's so good. you know what they say about cheese. >> good for your bones. >> okay, we'll say that i'll let you get away with that. what are you fixing today? >> this is a baked black bean and sweet potato flata. it's good for your heart and valentine's day. it's vegetarian meal. sweet potatoes are the star and the cabot cheddar gives it all the pizazz. >> i see peppers. >> peppers, green and red, two different kinds of onions. you can buy the mix but i like chopping. i add my own green and red

peppers, the corn. >> black beans. i love them. >> those are very good for you n. is our pepper jack cheese which you were just loving right there. >> mm-hmm. >> then the sweet potatoes were baked earlier. and i added some spices. >> what did you put on them? >> cumin, red pepper, could iian pepper, -- cayenne pepper. >> can i taste one? >> you can taste one. what's nice about that because i baked the sweet potato so you doesn't fry those. then i'm going to bake this. it makes a very heart healthy recipe. here's our finished product there. there's also a dipping sauce i've made with our greek cabot yogurt. i added some cilantro. you like that sweet potato. give that yogurt a try. >> let me tell you, the sweet potatoes are delicious. >> this is on our website

cabotcheese.cop. there was posted on our facebook page. it's just a delicious recipe. >> it's going to be on my website jchayward.com. thank you for lunch. thank you for visiting us from vermont. come back and visit us at 5:00.